Gambia's Jammeh heads to exile in Equatorial Guinea -ECOWAS

DAKAR, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Gambia's former authoritarian leader Yahya Jammeh was heading to exile in Equatorial Guinea with a stop in Guinea after he stepped down in the face of pressure from West African states to recognize his election defeat, the regional bloc ECOWAS said on Saturday.

ECOWAS sent 7,000 troops into Gambia on Thursday, but would halt operations while leaving some troops in the country to ensure security, Marcel de Souza, president of the ECOWAS commission, told a news conference in Dakar. (Reporting by Emma Farge; writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg, editing by G Crosse)